Scotch College

680 Old Boys dine with ...

680 Old Boys dine with Sir Lunchalot and guests

Haggis, chuckie, skelbs o' yowie an' wee tairts helped make the 2000 OSCA dinner memorable.

Take over 700 Old Scotch Collegians and guests; add a touch of chuckie, haggis, yowie and wee tairts; throw in a generous serving of fun, fellowship and entertainment, and you have the recipe for another successful OSCA annual dinner.

The dinner, held on Friday 26 May at the Melbourne Park Function Centre, was the fourth to be held in the spacious surroundings of the temple of tennis.

The sassenachs found that "chuckie" was warm chicken salad, "steepit skelbs o' yowie" turned out to be lamb fillet, "wee tairts" were cakes and eclairs, and the haggis needed no further explanation. All were delicious, and were well complemented by wines from All Saints, Brown Brothers and Campbells.

Diners included guests from kindred societies - with the usual special welcome given to the Old Xaverians' and Old Melburnians' representatives. Others at the head table were guest of honour John Burns (aka Sir Lunchalot), OSCA President Michael Stillwell ('68), the Hon Dr Michael Wooldridge ('73, who proposed the toast to the guests), Dr Gordon Donaldson, (School Principal), Michael Robinson ('55, Chairman of the Scotch College Council), Rev Dr Norman Curry (School Councillor), Philip Roff (past Principal), Richard Nelson ('57, past OSCA President), Ian Savage (school Vice-Principal) and the Hon Jeff Kennett ('65, former Premier).

Former School Chaplain Archie Crow ('38) led off proceedings with the grace, after which Michael Stillwell paid tribute to guests young and old. These included five tables of 1997 leavers, the largest contingent from any one year, and the famous "OBEs" ("Over Bloody Eighties"), led by former Scotch master Frank Stuckey ('24), at 94 the oldest diner present. Frank was accompanied at table 38 by other OBEs from the "roaring twenties" and the thirties, including Keith Wilson ('26), Oxley Jones ('28) and Allan Fleming, Archie Glenn, Alan McDonald and Boyard Taft (all '29).

Michael made a special OSCA presentation of a framed print to long-serving School Council Vice-Chairman, Rev Dr Norman Curry, in recognition of his many years of dedicated service to the school.

Responding to Michael's toast to Scotch College, Dr Gordon Donaldson acknowledged OSCA's important contribution to the school and to the Scotch family.

He described Scotch's 1999 VCE results as "thrilling", with one out of eight boys scoring 99 or above, placing them in the top 1% of year 12 students nationwide; more than half the class of '99 scoring 90 or above, and two students scoring the highest possible mark of 99.5.

He reminded old boys that the theme of next year's Scotch sesquicentenary events was "celebrating the vision", and Dr Donaldson asked diners to recall the vision that had inspired the school's founding fathers to re-establish the school at Hawthorn; then, in the late 1950s to strongly oppose the plans to route the South-Eastern Freeway through Scotch land; and to revive the fight in the 1990s, when freeway widening was mooted.

He said that vision has also been strongly evident in the efforts of generations of Scotch teachers, as they continue to develop Scotch boys to their full potential.

"Scotch is a thoroughly modern school", Dr Donaldson said, "with an admirable capacity to meet the vision it always sets itself."

But Dr Donaldson said that the children of today faced unprecedented challenges, not the least of which were the scourge of drugs, the dangers of depression and the weight of academic expectations that so many of them face.

He urged old boys to play a part in the development of today's adolescents, by "'adopting' an adolescent, and helping that young person to achieve responsible adulthood," he said. "Without mentors, who will help make today's young people make sense of their youth experience?"

On a lighter note, Dr Donaldson said that he hoped parents wouldn't do as one father had done - placed a sign on his son's bedroom door saying "checkout time - your 21st birthday".

Michael Stillwell introduced the Hon Dr Michael Wooldridge ('73) with an insight into Dr Wooldridge's Scotch schooldays. Michael said Dr Wooldridge was a Queen's Scout, won a divinity prize, and was described by various teachers at different times as "lively, keen and capable", "a boy with real ability", and "probable career - law or neurosurgery".

In his toast to the guests, Dr Wooldridge paid tribute to the public school system, and spoke of the healthy rivalries between the schools. (His children attend Carey because Dr Wooldridge wanted to send them to a coeducational school.) As he and his young son arrived at school one morning, Dr Wooldridge thought it was a good time to remind young Toby Wooldridge of his good fortune in attending one of Melbourne's best schools. "I know what you mean, dad," Toby replied. "Some boys have to go to Xavier instead!"

In his response to the toast, John Burns (3AW's Sir Lunchalot) told of his experiences as a satirist of puffed-up restaurant critics, wine buffs - and eminent members of the legal profession.

John, had his audience in fits of laughter as he recounted stories from the bar - both the legal variety and the hotel kind. He said it puzzled him why otherwise "normal" people, when elevated to the bench, felt that it was incumbent on them to adopt the language of the late 17th century. John gave several examples of "judge-speak" in his inimitable style, to roars of laughter.

As usual, a hardworking "backroom" team made the dinner a great success. Leigh McGregor ('55, Executive Director, OSCA) and Administrative Assistant Lynley Nimmo worked closely with Michael Stillwell, dinner convenor Peter Wade, guest speaker liaison Campbell McComas ('69), master of ceremonies, Stewart Faichney ('63) and Ken Howden ('74), music and songs, to ensure an excellent night.

By David Ashton